Charles Taze Russell was heavily investing in businesses even up to 1914 according to old newspaper

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn, New York • Wed, 28 Feb 1912

Page 22

Charles Taze Russell 2/28/1912

"PASTOR'S" PRESS AGENT Russell Paid for Newspaper Puff Philippines but It Didn't Appear. in BROOKLYN EAGLE WAS QUOTED Globe-Circling Junket Gets a Hard Knock, and Audience Is Reduced to 800 Filipinos. Thurday An Interesting sidelight on the difficulties that are being encountered by "Pastor" Russell and his press agents In their record-breaking world tour of "investigation" of foreign missions, Is furnished hy extracts from the Manila Cablenews-American, just received In Brooklyn. This paper tells of a curious experience It had with an Industrious but wabbly press agent who wanted to pay money to get reading puffs of "Pastor" Russell Into the columns of the paper. The "Pastor" arrived in Manila on Sunday, January 14.

On Saturday the Cablenews-American reprinted from The Eagle the account of "Pastor" Russell's prediction that the world would end in October, 1914, with an ingenious suggestion that his followers prepare for the windup by turning over to him and his associates their worldly wealth. The Manila pa'per put this caption over the article, "World to End In October, 1914, Warns 'Pastor' Russell. Get in on the Ground Floor by Getting Rid of Your Property, Invites 1,'nique Evangelist." This publicity had the effect of nullifying the work of the Russell advance press agent and kept down the audience of the "Pastor" the following day to a few hundred, chiefly Filipinos. On Tuesday the Cablenewe-Amerlcan printed the following interesting statement of its dealings with the Russell agent: Pastor' Russell, the much-advertised religionist, who visited Manila Sunday, gave out an Interview in which he said that there was no truth whatever in the article copied from The Brooklyn Eagle and published in the Cablenews-Ameri- can of January 13. Yet, in the second paragraph of his interview, he said: 'U is true that we spent $148,000 last year.' Advertising Paid Tor, but Anotner Side Is Discovered.

In view of the fact that 'Pastor' Rus sell has expressed himself as aggrieved that the Cablenews-American published the article in question, we take the lib erty to make the following statement: Some time ago 'Pastor' Russell's advance agent came to Manila and arranged for advertising with the Cablenews-American for the much-heralded address on Where Are the Dead?' The money was deposited in the business office of the Cablenews-American, and a number of laudatory articles in the form of paid reading notices were left. After the advance agent had left the city the attention of this paper was called to the fact that there was another side to 'Pastor' Russell s propa irnn.ia that was not advertised in stories left by his advance agent the of to in the Flfty-feventh eD- the The public of for for for 4 aerv-, rt at u by II. ,ioi nnhHnhert on January 13 was taken from The Brooklyn Eagle, against which 'Pastor' Russell says he has a damage suit pending for $50,000. There are other ronnrdK nf a similar nature. For exam ple there are the court records of the District of Columbia in a case In which Pastor' Russell had sued the Washington Post for a sum as large as that which he now asks from The Brooklyn Eagle, but In which, after the testimony in the case was heard, the Jury awarded 'Pastor' Russell ?1 damages.

"The testimony In that case Is most Interesting as bearing on the claim by 'Pastor' Russell that his evangel Is not tainted with a desire to acquire filthy lucre. It shows that at the time he was professing that he was not engaged in business of any kind, and that he has gives his time almost exclusively to religious work for the past fifteen years, he was one of the incorporators of the United States Coal and Coke Company, capitalized at $100,000; that he was Interested in the Pittsburg Asphaltum Company. Ltd.; that he was Interested In the California Asphaltum Company. Ltd., and In the Silica Brick Company; that he was interested in the Brazilian Turpentine Company, Ltd., with a capital stock of $100,000, he holding the majority interest, and that the offices or headquarters of some of these companies, if not all, were In the Bible House in Alleghany, Pa., from which he operated. It also appeared froia this testimony tnat many oi i-as- tor' Russelrs associates in iu uuveino-Inu nlant on Hicks street, Brooklyn where the J148.000 was received last year while ostensibly receiving to,uuu a monm.

at some time or other accumulated thousands of dollars worth of stock In various corporations, including tnose aforementioned in wnicn 'I'astor' nusseu was interested. Said Article Was False, but Admitted Truth of Statements "Yesterday Dr. Jones, who belongs to 'Pastor' Russell's party, came to this of . to complain about the article published on January 13. He started, out by saying, like 'Pastor' Russell, that it was entirely false, but, on being pinned down to the truth or falsity of the statements contained in each paragraph, he was compelled to admit that they were true with the exception that whereas the article said 'Pastor' Russell predicted the world would end in 1914, he had asserted that the end of the 'Gentile times' would arrive In October, 1914, and the present world would end, and on the point that 'Pastor' Russell was said to urge his followers to contribute their material wealth to the propaganda In order to have a part in the new order of things, he said that 'Pastor' Russell urged the personal consecration of his followers, and that, of course, the consecration of the man's self meant the consecration of his pocketbook.

also, hence tne contributions unasked for, aggregating $148,-000 received last year at his headquarters have been entirely voluntary gifts. Dr. Jones was reminded that the man who purchases a gold brick does so voluntarily after the gold brick artist has had his say. "Suffice to say that the money left In this office by 'Pastor' Russell's advance agent was returned to 'Pastor' Russell upon his arrival in the city, and the laudatory articles left by him for publication were not printed. "Our reason for this attitude toward the matter is this: Inasmuch as we accepted and published his advance agent's estimate of 'Pastor' Russell and his work, we regarded It only fair to the public that we should present the facts on which other people had formed a different estimate of the man and his work in order that our readers might be fully prepared to Judge for themselves."